What’s Stopping You?Strategies to overcome productivity problems

Tutor: Michael Bryant

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Workshop Overview

Part One: Understanding how you

procrastinate

Part Two: Strategies for Change

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Procrastination questionnaire review

Overcoming your procrastination habits

Naming your fears

Thoughts create feelings

Workshop OverviewPart One: Understanding how you

procrastinate

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Workshop Overview Part Two: Strategies for Change

– Moving from self-doubt to confidence

– Moving from inaction to action-taking

– Time management

– Self-hypnosis for change.

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1. Write a list of things you’re procrastinating about

2. Give each item a letter as follows:A – Urgent and importantB – Important but not urgentC – Not important and not urgent

3. Pick one item you want to focus on for this workshop

What are your goals?

Exercise:

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Procrastination questionnaire Exercise: Rate your Procrastinator Types

– Subscale 1: Guilty types– Subscale 2: Avoiders– Subscale 3: Disorganised types– Subscale 4: Self-doubters– Subscale 5: Passive aggressive– Subscale 6: Perfectionists– Subscale 7: Pleasure seekers / ‘lazy’

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Procrastination Habits

1. Putting the cart before the horse2. Mastery model3. Fear of failure4. Perfectionism5. Lack of self-rewards6. ‘Should’ statements7. Passive aggressiveness8. Unassertiveness9. Coercion sensitivity10.Lack of desire

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Procrastination in Relationships

– Procrastination affects not only work-related matters, but also relationships.

– What is being deferred here is friendship and love. Procrastination in relationships can take two forms:

– fear of intimacy or – fear of separation

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Causes of Procrastination

– Perfectionism: Two types :– Adaptive –have high standards and

believe their performance lives up to these. They want perfection often before they have worked for it, as they cannot accept the time it takes to achieve a task of the (often impossibly) high standards they set.

– Maladaptive - are over-concerned about making mistakes. This group are high achievers, but are flexible enough to know that they will sometimes fail and will need to improve on their efforts.

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– Lack of Self-Confidence– Poor Study / Research Skills– Anger– Lifestyle– Emotional and mental health

problems

Causes of Procrastinationcontinued

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Understanding Procrastination Patterns

Five-stage process describing how many people procrastinate:

– Equating the task with your self-worth– Using perfectionism to make the task

seem even more difficult– Anxiety completely blocks you from

working– Procrastination rescues you from anxiety – Introducing a threat to complete your

task (deadlines may help us to overcome our delays, as can the potential fear of failing your course / job.

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Fear may be one of your reasons for procrastination if

– Thinking about the task makes you feel uncomfortable.

– You worry a lot about how it will turn out.– You hesitate to get started for fear you’ll

mess it up.– You wonder if you can handle it.– When you try to do it you feel tense, your

heart races, or you start to feel hot.– You think people will criticize, reject, or

laugh at you.

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Fear is not your problem if you procrastinate because:

– You are feeling lazy.– You are tired.– You are feeling discouraged.

– You just can’t concentrate.

– You would rather do something more fun.

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Thoughts create feelings:Examples

Your negative thoughts + Your emotional reaction = Procrastination (P.)

“I don’t what to do” + Anxiety = Procrastination

“I can’t deal with this right now” + Fatigue = P.

“I hate having to do things like this” + Irritation = P.

“This is going to be so messed up” + Dread = P.

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– If you can identify the: thought and the feeling that together are leading you to procrastinate,

you can choose another way to cope.

Examples:Too exhausted = rest for a while, then work.Dread = think of positive possible

outcomes.Uncomforatable = think of past coping events.

Thoughts create feelings:

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Thoughts create feelings

Procrastination Model:

Actions:Procrastination,

avoidance

Thoughts: “I’m going to mess it up.”

Feelings:tense, anxious,

fearful

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Thoughts create feelings

Action Model:

Actions:Take action,

Make progress

Thoughts: “Get started. It doesn’t have to

be perfect.”

Feelings:Empowered,encouraged.

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Moving from self-doubt to confidence

Core Strategies:– Respond to your Inner Child with

encouraging thoughts– Identify main messages from your

Inner Critic– Convert Inner Critic to your Inner

Coach.

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self-doubt to confidence:

Discouraging vs. Encouraging thoughts

Discouraging Encouraging“I can’t handle it.” “I always say that

when I’mstressed.”

“I don’t know what to do.”

“Slow down. Figure it out or ask for

help.”“It’s not going to

work.”“Come up with a plan that is

more likely to work.”

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Moving from inaction to action-

taking:strategies

– Figure out whether laziness is your problem.

– Understand the social consequences of procrastination.– Find out how you might have been trained

to let others do your work.– Learn to transition from pleasure seeking

to taking action.

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Moving from inaction to action-taking:

Exercise: – Name some examples of your style of

pleasure seeking procrastination, e.g.:– When you don’t mind doing a chore at home

and you have the time to do it, but you watch TV instead.

– When you have had enough sleep and you are looking forward to starting your day, but you want 5 more minutes of sleep anyway.

– When you over-prepare or over-research instead of writing or starting the task.

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Time management

– Time is fixed, measurable and finite.– Procrastinators resist planning ahead.– Integrate SMART goals into your plans:

S = Specific

M = Measurable A = Attainable

R = RealisticT = Timely

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Time management strategy:The ‘UnSchedule’

– The UnSchedule is not based of time-keeping based on what you should do.

– The UnSchedule is a weekly calendar of all your committed activities. It helps you to:

1.Look ahead at the week to see how much time you have already committed.

2.Review at the end of your week, being able to see where your time has actually gone.

3. Learn to use little bits of time (i.e., 30 minutes)

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‘UnSchedule’ example:‘work on paper’

Monday Tuesday Wed. Etc..

6am Wake up, jog, shower

Wake up, jog, shower

Wake up, jog, shower

7 Breakfast, kids to school

Breakfast, kids to school

Breakfast, kids to school

8 ‘worked on paper’

Watched daytime TV

‘work on paper’

9 GO TO WORK GO TO WORK GO TO WORK

3pm

4 Pick up kids Pick up kids Work meeting (late)

7 Help w homework

Make Dinner Pick up kids Dinner

9pm TV News ‘worked on paper’

Pub with Sabina

Etc..

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Self-hypnosis for change

– Self hypnosis demonstration– Hypnosis FAQs– Demo

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Self hypnosis CD

How to make your own self hypnosis CD

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Books

– Procrastination: Why you do it. What to do About it Now, Jane Burka, PhD.

– Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-free Play, Neil A. Fiore

– Self-Hypnosis For Dummies, Mike Bryant

– Isn’t it About Time?: How to Overcome Procrastination and Get on with you Life, Andrea Perry and Joel Mischon.

– Eat That Frog!: Get More of the Important Things Done, Today!, Brian Tracy